Variable friction-resistance rope exercising device

ABSTRACT

A variable friction-resistance rope exercising device having a shaft with an eyelet at one end and a turn knob mounted at the other end. The knob has apertures therethrough to enable free ends of a rope to be threaded through the apertures, a rope is spiralled around the shaft and through the eyelet so that a user can pull alternately on the ends against the friction developed between the rope and the shaft. The knob is spring biased outwardly away from the eyelet to connect with the shaft so that no rotation of the knob with respect to the shaft will be permitted during the pulling on the free ends of the rope. To increase the number of turns of the rope on the shaft the knob is pushed inwardly against the bias of a spring to disconnect the knob from the shaft and then the knob is rotated. When it is desired to release the frictional resistance, the user holds onto the knob and pulls on both free ends of the rope to pull the shaft toward the knob compressing the spring to disconnect the shaft from the knob.

United States Patent [1 1 Webb 1 1 VARIABLE FRlCTlON-RESISTANCE ROPEEXERCISING DEVICE Ronald W. Webb, N. 7106 Winston Dr., Spokane, Wash.

[22] Filed: June 12, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 262,147

[76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl 272/79 A, 272/D1G. 5, 188/651 [51] Int. Cl A63b 21/00 [58]Field of Search 272/D1G. 3, 79 A,

Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-William R. BrowneAtt0rneyGreek Wells et a1.

[ Jan. 1,1974

[ ABSTRACT A variable friction-resistance rope exercising device havinga shaft with an eyelet at one end and a turn knob mounted at the otherend. The knob has apertures therethrough to enable free ends of a, ropeto be threaded through the apertures, a rope is spiralled around theshaft and through the eyelet so that a user can pull alternately on theends against the friction developed between the rope and the shaft. Theknob is spring biased outwardly away from the eyelet to connect with theshaft so that no rotation of the knob with respect to the shaft will bepermitted during the pulling on the free ends of the rope. To increasethe number of turns of the rope on the shaft the knob is pushed inwardlyagainst the bias of a spring to disconnect the knob from the shaft andthen the knob is rotated. When it is desired to release the frictionalresistance, the user holds onto the knob and pulls on both free ends ofthe rope to pull the shaft toward the knob compressing the spring todisconnect the shaft from the knob.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH 11974 SiEEY 10F '2 VARIABLEFRICTION-RESISTANCE ROPE EXERCISING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to friction-resistance devices and moreparticularly to exercising devices utilizing the friction-resistanceprinciple.

Friction-resistance devices have been known and utilized at least sincethe 19th Century. U.S. Pat-- -Boucherville No. 147,828 (1874), BrookeNo. 303,052 (1884), Van Scoy No. 425,716 (1890), Ross No. 434,888(1890), Leffelman No. 779,550 (1905), disclose the use of thefriction-resistant principle in rope brakes for fire escape mechanisms.The purpose and functions of such devices is to impede without arrestingthe movement of a rope relative to the device by causing it to passaround a metal shaft or post.

With the advent of the industrial society and the availability of moreleisure time, it has been desirable to utilize the friction-resistantprinciple in exercising devices. Examples of exercising devices thatutilize the friction-resistant principle are illustrated in US Pat. Nos.3,197,204; 3,411,776; 3,460,392; 3,462,142; 3,498,608; 3,506,262,3,519,269; 3,510,132; 3,532,189; 3,550,449; and 3,591,174. All of thesedevices utilize the well-known concept of wrapping a section of a ropearound a shaft or drum1ike element in which the amount of resistancefriction increases with the grip angle of the rope and the number ofturns in which the rope is wrapped around the shaft.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a variableresistance rope exercising device that varies the rope-shaftfriction-resistance. The device can be easily returned to its originalposition without having to backstep the device through each of thestages through which it has progressed.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a unique ropeexercising device utilizing the frictionresistance principle in which aresistance varying mechanism is utilized which will not release duringthe exercising operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a exercising deviceusing the variable resistance principle in which the device isrelatively inexpensive to manufacture and is quite reliable to operate.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent upon the reading of the following detailed description of apreferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of thisinvention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a variable-resistance rope exercising deviceembodying the principal features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along line 33 in FIG.1;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the rope exercising device;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cut-away perspective view illustrating theinterior of the device;

FIG. 6 is a condensed longitudinal cross-sectional view specificallyillustrating a releasable locking mechanism with the rope removed;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary enlarged longitudinal view of the releasablelocking mechanism shown in a release position; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 except showing the releasable lockingmechanism in a lock position however rotated from the orientationillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Now referring to thedrawings, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a variable friction-resistancerope exercising device generally designated by the numeral 10 that issupported by support means 9 in the form of a strap which may be hookedor attached to a rigid structure during use. Exercising device 10includes a rope 11 having an end section 12 and an end section 13 with acontinuous intermediate section 14. The exercising device 10 is operatedby pulling on either end section 12, 13 and slowly moving the ropethrough the device at preset pulling force levels. The exercising device10 is designed to be able to vary the friction-resistance exerted on therope to increase or decrease the pulling force required to pull the ropethrough the exercising device.

One of the principal elements of the exercising device 10 is anelongated shaft 16 (FIGS. 5 and 6) that has an exterior cylindricalsurface 18 between ends 20 and 21. The end 20 has an eyelet 22 formedthereon having an eyelet hole 23 extending therethrough transverse tothe axis of the shaft. The eyelet hole 23 has a rope receiving portion24 and a contiguous strap receiving portion 26. Transverse grooves 28and 29 are formed in the side of the eyelet 22 transverse to the axis ofthe shaft. The grooves 28 and 29 are diametrically opposed to eachother.

The shaft end 21 has a stub section 32 having a reduced diameter forminga shaft shoulder 33. The reduced stub section 32' has a cylindricalbearing surface 34.

An additional important feature of the exercising device 10 is a knob 36that is mounted on the end 21 of the shaft for rotation or turning aboutthe shaft axis and for axial movement on the reduced stub section in alimited stroke. The knob 36 has a cylindrical shape with a cylindricalexterior surface 38 extending between end surfaces 40 and 41. The endsurface 40 faces the eylet end 21. The knob 36 has a longitudinal oraxial bore 43 formed therein to receive the stub section 32 of the shaftto enable the knob to turn or rotate about the shaft axis and to enablethe knob to move (slide) to a limited degree axially on the reducedstub. The knob 36 has a counterbore 44 (FIGS. 6 and 8) formed in the endsurface 40 coaxially with the bore 43 forming a first knob shoulder 45.The diameter of the counterbore 44 is less than the diameter of theshaft 16. A second counterbore 46 is formed in the end surface 40coaxially with the bore 43 forming a second shoulder 4?. The secondcounterbore 46 has a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of theshaft 16 so that a portion of the knob 36 extends toward the eyelet end2] forward of the shaft shoulder 33 to cover the shaft shoulder. The endsurface 40 is forward of the shaft shoulder 33.

The knob 36 has rope guide apertures 48 and 49 (FIGS. 5-8) extendingtherethrough in an axial direction with the shaft axis diametricallyopposed from each other. The guide apertures 48 and 49 have flaredopenings 51 and 52 respectively communicating with the end surface 40.

The exercising device includes spring means 54 (FIGS. 6-8) operativelypositioned between the shaft and the knob to bias the knob outwardly toan extended axial position. Specifically the spring means includes acompression spring 56 mounted about the stub section 32 with one endengaging the shaft shoulder 33 and the other end engaging the shoulder45 of the knob. The compression spring 56 biases the knob 36 in an axialdirection to the extended position. By pushing the knob 36 against theaction of the spring to compress the spring 56, one is able to move theknob to a limited degree axially toward the eyelet end 21.

One of the principal features of this invention is the provision of areleasable locking means 58 operatively interconnecting the shaft andthe knob 36 for locking the knob to the shaft at various angularsettings of the knob when the knob is in the extended axial position andfor enabling the knob to be turned relative to the shaft to otherangular settings when the knob is pushed from the extended positiontoward the eyelet end against the bias of the spring 56.

The releasable locking means 58 include mating elements on the shaft andthe knob in which the mating elements engage each other when the knob isin the extended axial position. Specifically, the mating elementsinclude one or more radial projections 61 affixed to the end of theshaft 21 and projecting radially outward from the bearing surface 54.Specifically in this embodiment the radial projection 61 includes a pinthat extends diametrically through the end 21 providing two radialprojections at its end. The corresponding mating elements includeangularly spaced grooves 62 formed in the end surface 41 in which theangularly spaced grooves 62 correspond to the desired number of knobsettings in one revolution.

The exercising device 10 includes a shroud 64 that encloses the shaft16. The shroud 64 includes a reduced end 65 (FIGS. 1 and 4) thatencloses the eyelet end 20. The reduced end 65 has a strap opening 67 toenable the strap to extend outward for attaching to a rigid support. Theshroud 64 has a tubular section 80 that extends from the reduced end 65to an open end 82 terminating adjacent the knob 36. The open end 82 isencircled by a rim 83. To prevent the shroud 64 from rotating relativeto the shaft, the interior of the shroud 64 is provided withlongitudinal diametrically opposed grooves or slots 84 formed byshoulders 85 to receive the eyelet 22 (FIGS. 2 and 3). Within the slots84, transverse ribs 87 (FIG. 6) are provided to snap into the grooves 28and 29 during assembly to prevent the shroud 64 from moving axially withrespect to the shaft 16.

lndicia means 88 (FIG. 1) is included on the exterior of the shroud 64adjacent the open end 82 and on the knob 36 to visually display theangular position of the knob with respect to the shaft so that a user ofthe exercising device will have an indication of the frictionalresistance setting. Specifically, the indicia includes an annular scale90 circumscribing the open end 82 and a pointer 92 formed on thecylindrical surface 38 of the knob 36 with the pointer 92 facing thescale 90.

During the operation of the exercising device the rope 11 is threadedthrough the exercising device with the continuous intermediate section14 extending through one of the guide apertures 48 or 49 and along theshaft surface in a first flight and with a second flight interconnectedto the first flight through the eyelet hole 23 and extending in theopposite axial direction from the eyelet 22 along the shaft 16 and outthrough the other guide aperture. The end sections 12 and 13 extendoutward from the knob 36 to enable the user to grab or hold onto one ofthe end sections 12 and 13.

During the use of the exercising device 10, the knob 36 is originallypositioned at a zero orientation in which the rope flights are in arather straight line between the guide apertures 48 and 49 and theeyelet 22. To apply frictional resistance to the rope, the operatorpushes the knob 36 inwardly toward the eyelet end 22 to disengage theradial projections 61 from the grooves 62 to enable the knob to beturned to a desired angular orientation. As the knob 36 is turned, theflights are formed in a spiral orientation about the shaft to increasethe frictional engagement between the shaft and the rope. The greaterthe angular displacement from the zero setting, the greater thefrictional resistance. Stated in another way; the greater the grip angleof the rope to the shaft axis the greater frictional-resistance one willhave to overcome when pulling on one of the rope ends. To increase theforce required to pull the rope through the exercising device one merelypushes the knob in and rotates it in a desired direction to increase theresistance. When it is desired to release the frictional resistance, theoperator merely holds onto the knob and pulls on both end sections 12and 13 simultaneously to cause the rope to pull the shaft toward theknob 36 compressing the spring 56 to release the releasable lockingmeans 58. When the releasable locking means 58 is released the shaftwill rotate rapidly until the zero position is obtained. In this mannerit is relatively easy to clear the device and to begin the exercises ata lower level.

It should be understood that the above described embodiment is simplyillustrative of the principles of this invention and that numerous otherembodiments may be readily devised by those skilled in the art.Therefore, only the following claims are intended to define thisinvention.

What is claimed is:

l. A variable friction-resistance rope exercising device, comprising:

a friction shaft having an eyelet formed at one end thereof;

a control knob connected to the other end of the shaft for turningmovement relative to the shaft about the shaft axis and for limitedaxial movement relative to the shaft along the shaft axis;

a spring means positioned between the shaft and the knob for biasing theknob axially away from the eyelet end to an extended axial position;

said knob having two rope guide apertures extending axiallytherethrough;

a single continuous section of rope having one flight extending" intoone of the apertures and along and in frictional engagement with theshaft between the knob and the eyelet in one axial direction and asecond flight interconnecting the first flight through the eyelet andextending back along and in frictional engagement with the shaft in theother axial direction and out through the other guide aperture so thatas the control knob is turned with respect to the shaft from a zeroangular setting the rope flights will automatically, spirally wind aboutthe shaft varying the sliding frictional-resistance between the rope andthe shaft in relation to the degree of angular displacement of the knobfrom the zero angular setting; and

means for connecting the knob and the shaft, during an exercise programby the knob being forced to an extended axial position away from theeyelet under bias of the spring means thus enabling the knob to turnfreely on to the shaft and for disconnecting the knob and the shaft bymanually pushing the knob inwardly from the extended position toward theeyelet against the biasing of the spring means so that turning of theknob when connected to the shaft will vary the number of turns of ropeand thus vary the frictional-resistance between the shaft and the rope.

2. The exercising device as defined in claim 1 wherein the other end ofthe shaft has a reduced diameter stub section having a shaft shoulderand wherein the knob has a bore therein slidably receiving the stubsection to enable the knob to be turned and pushed axially on thereduced diameter section of the shaft, said knob having a firstcounterbore formed therein forming a knob shoulder opposing the shaftshoulder and wherein the spring means includes a compression springmounted about the reduced diameter section of the shaft and bearingagainst said shoulders to bias the knob to the extended axial position.

3. The exercising device as defined in claim 2 wherein the means forconnecting and disconnecting the knob from the shaft includes matingelements on the stub section of the shaft and the knob which engage eachother when the knob is in the extended axial position and which aredisengage from each other when the knob is pushed to compress the springand thereby move the knob from the extended axial position to enable theknob to be turned freely.

4. The exercising device as defined in claim 3 wherein the matingelements include a radial projection on the stub section of the shaftand a plurality of matching angularly spaced grooves in the knob forreceiving the radial projection when the knob is in the extended axialposition.

5. The exercising device as defined in claim 1 wherein the shaft has aprescribed diameter and wherein the knob has a second counterbore formedtherein with a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the shaftwith a portion of the knob surrounding the counterbore and extendingtoward the eyelet and beyond the shoulder shaft.

6. The exercising device as defined in claim 1 further comprising ashroud encloses the eyelet and surrounds the shaft and terminates in arim adjacent the knob in which the rim has a scale thereon correspondingto an angular knob setting and wherein the knob has a pointer meansthereon opposite the scale for indicating the frictional-resistance ofthe device at various knob settings.

1. A variable friction-resistance rope exercising device, comprising: afriction shaft having an eyelet formed at one end thereof; a controlknob connected to the other end of the shaft for turning movementrelative to the shaft about the shaft axis and for limited axialmovement relative to the shaft along the shaft axis; a spring meanspositioned between the shaft and the knob for biasing the knob axiallyaway from the eyelet end to an extended axial position; said knob havingtwo rope guide apertures extending axially therethrough; a singlecontinuous section of rope having one flight extending into one of theapertures and along and in frictional engagement with the shaft betweenthe knob and the eyelet in one axial direction and a second flightinterconnecting the first flight through the eyelet and extending backalong and in frictional engagement with the shaft in the other axialdirection and out through the other guide aperture so that as thecontrol knob is turned with respect to the shaft from a zero angularsetting the rope flights will automatically, spirally wind about theshaft varying the sliding frictionalresistance between the rope and theshaft in relation to the degree of angular displacement of the knob fromthe zero angular setting; and a means for connecting the knob and theshaft, during an exercise program by the knob being forced to anextended axial position away from the eyelet under bias of the springmeans thus enabling the knob to turn freely on to the shaft and fordisconnecting the knob and the shaft by manually pushing the knobinwardly from the extended position toward the eyelet against thebiasing of the spring means so that turning of the knob when connectedto the shaft will vary the number of turns of rope and thus vary thefrictional-resistance between the shaft and the rope.
 2. The exercisingdevice as defined in claim 1 wherein the other end of the shaft has areduced diameter stub section having a shaft shoulder and wherein theknob has a bore therein slidably receiving the stub section to enablethe knob to be turned and pushed axially on the reduced diameter sectionof the shaft, said knob having a first cOunterbore formed thereinforming a knob shoulder opposing the shaft shoulder and wherein thespring means includes a compression spring mounted about the reduceddiameter section of the shaft and bearing against said shoulders to biasthe knob to the extended axial position.
 3. The exercising device asdefined in claim 2 wherein the means for connecting and disconnectingthe knob from the shaft includes mating elements on the stub section ofthe shaft and the knob which engage each other when the knob is in theextended axial position and which are disengage from each other when theknob is pushed to compress the spring and thereby move the knob from theextended axial position to enable the knob to be turned freely.
 4. Theexercising device as defined in claim 3 wherein the mating elementsinclude a radial projection on the stub section of the shaft and aplurality of matching angularly spaced grooves in the knob for receivingthe radial projection when the knob is in the extended axial position.5. The exercising device as defined in claim 1 wherein the shaft has aprescribed diameter and wherein the knob has a second counterbore formedtherein with a diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the shaftwith a portion of the knob surrounding the counterbore and extendingtoward the eyelet and beyond the shoulder shaft.
 6. The exercisingdevice as defined in claim 1 further comprising a shroud encloses theeyelet and surrounds the shaft and terminates in a rim adjacent the knobin which the rim has a scale thereon corresponding to an angular knobsetting and wherein the knob has a pointer means thereon opposite thescale for indicating the frictional-resistance of the device at variousknob settings.